What is a short sale?
A short sale happens when your mortgage lender agrees to accept less money to pay off your mortgage than you owe. This agreement usually happens when the seller is going through financial difficulties. It basically allows you to get your property – and its expenses – off your shoulders before you default on your mortgage and get put into foreclosure.
Short sale vs. foreclosure
Foreclosure is what happens when you default on your mortgage (usually for three months or longer) and the bank takes control of the property, only to sell it at auction to make up for the amount of money you owed. Foreclosures can be devastating to a homeowner’s credit score, and they can severely impact your ability to purchase (or even rent) a home in the future.
A short sale is basically coming to an agreement with your bank so that you can sell the property and pay off the rest of your mortgage for a smaller amount than what you owe. It’s a solid option in order to move forward with more options than you would have if you went through foreclosure. A short sale will have an impact on your credit score, but not nearly as much as a foreclosure would.
The benefits of a short sale
If homeownership is placing (or worsening) a financial hardship on you, a short sale can be a great way to get tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of debt off your shoulders. When you sell your house in a short sale, you don’t make any profit – but you do give yourself a clean break without the weight of a foreclosure holding you down. A short sale is a great way to get an old, worn down, or otherwise high-maintenance home off your back before you have it taken away from you. Of course, benefitting from a short sale hinges largely on finding a buyer you can trust.
Finding the right buyer
How can you find the right buyer in a short sale for a house? If you’re going through a short sale, time is of the essence: you need someone you can count on to get the process done on a timeline that works for you. Work with a buyer who has a clearly laid out process that you can follow every step of the way and that can be tailored to the timeline you need.
In a short sale, it’s also extremely important to know exactly what you’re getting – especially if you’ve come to an agreement with your lender about how much you’ll need to pay to complete the short sale. This is why it’s absolutely essential to work with a cash buyer who doesn’t charge you a dime: no closing costs, no commissions, no repair fees. The offer you get from your cash buyer should be the payment you get at the end of the day, no question. Work with a cash buyer who guarantees this, and you’ll have a reliable partner to complete your short sale.
